“How much should I have? What is enough for me? What should you have? What is enough for you?” — N. Gordon Cosby, from his sermon, “How Much Is Enough?”*
Can you hear the echoes from that 1990 sermon (quoted above) bouncing off the walls of Congress, careening across the land, and whistling through every unemployment and food bank line?
Much has changed for the worse since Cosby preached that thoughtful sermon about the rapid deterioration of the earth’s resources and the growing chasm between those who have more than they need and those who have too little. His purpose then wasn’t to scold us, nor is it mine now.
Today the pandemic has changed everything and there is no escaping the fact we all need to honestly assess our own needs so we can help our brothers and sisters around the world meet theirs, and it needs to be done now. So where do we begin?
Cosby listed three areas of connectedness that he felt changes our perception of needs:
- Connectedness to God – How do we feel about God meeting our needs? “If we know the manna will be there as we need it,” he said, “we won’t have to rent a storage bin to hold the extra stuff.”
- Connectedness with People – What have other people got to do with our needs? Apparently Cosby felt the answer was “a lot” because he said, “As our connections with one another deepen, our personal needs decrease. We become much freer with our time and our money.”
- Connectedness to the Planet – Cosby felt a strong need to reestablish our connection with the earth. He said, “Whatever the personal cost, I want to live in natural harmony with it. I want to give to it, and I want to draw from its wisdom, its beauty and its grandeur.”
Do you have the courage to evaluate your own needs in light of the world’s shrinking resources and the disproportionate devastation created by the Pandemic? Will your answers free you to do more for those who have less?
Blessings on your efforts to see clearly and respond effectively,
Judy Osgood | 2/15/2021
*To listen to the full sermon How Much Is Enough, click here and put in “How Much Is Enough,” in the search box.